April 7, 2009

Mother of Five Cornellians Is Among Victims of Binghamton Shootings

The shooting in Binghamton that left the small city reeling in its wake has a connection to the neighboring Cornell community.
Teacher Roberta King, who was killed inside the American Civic Association while substituting for an English as a Second Language class, left behind 17 grandchildren, including Ilisa Naukam ‘09. King was the mother of 10 children, five of whom went to Cornell, according to the Associated Press.
Throughout her career, King’s passion for ESL teaching led her to touch thousands of lives in the Binghamton City School District and Windsor School District. Though she was 72 when she died, King maintained a strong passion for teaching. She grew up in Syracuse and graduated from Syracuse University, according to the Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin. She also had diverse interests in music, cooking, architecture and doll collecting.
King was not scheduled to teach at the ACA on the day the shooting occurred. In fact, she received a last-minute call from a colleague with a request to cover for her so she could take the day off to celebrate her wedding anniversary, according to the New York Daily News.
“She was so kind and generous,” King’s son, Jeff, told the Daily News. “It’s hard to believe she would die in such a violent way.”

Related

The women’s soccer team starts off its season this weekend, playing host to Binghamton today, and then traveling to face Niagara on Sunday.
“We are just excited to play,” said junior co-captain Lena Russomagno. “After preseason, after practicing a lot, we are just excited to get out there and show what we’ve got and show what we’ve been doing in practice.”
The Red’s first matchup will be against Binghamton, a team that’s coming off a pair of losses last weekend at Delaware and Saint Joseph’s. Binghamton edges out Cornell in the series between the teams, 1-0-1, and tied Cornell the last time the two teams met, back in 2004.

The baseball team will need a short memory and some long underwear for today’s game. The Red (4-16, 2-6 Ivy) will host the Binghamton Bearcats (9-10). Cornell will try to move past the disappointment of last weekend, which saw the team lose four crucial games to conference foes. In order for the Red to have a chance to break its losing streak, the weather must give the team a chance to play. Ithaca is expected to see snow and temperatures in the 30s today.
“We have a pretty good chance of playing tomorrow, especially with the turf field,” said senior shortstop Scott Hardinger. “Assuming that there’s no snow or heavy rain, we should be able to play.”
Cold weather is nothing new to the Red.